Colombo: Sri Lanka suffered a big blow with opener Tillakaratne Dilshan being ruled out of the first Test against New Zealand starting in Galle on Saturday as he is yet to recover from his back injury.

The same injury had kept the batsman out of the last two ODIs against the Kiwis also.

Dilshan's unbeaten century in the third one-dayer helped Sri Lanka take a winning lead in the five-match and rain affected series.

Sri Lankan team manager Charith Senanayake said Dimuth Karunaratne would replace Dilshan in the squad and would open the innings with Taranga Paranavithana.

The 24-year-old left handed batsman Karunaratne has earlier represented Sri Lanka in two ODIs, both during Sri Lanka's tour of England in 2011.